The Medieval Internet : Power, Politics and Participation in the Digital Age.

Intro -- Half Title Page -- Praise Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- About the Author -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Neo-medievalism -- The Outline of the Book -- Chapter 1-The Middle Ages and Medieval Ways of Living and Thinking -- Medieval Society -- Space in the Middle Ages -- The Medieval Body -- Comparing the Medieval World with the Modern -- Chapter 2-The Medieval and the Contemporary Landscape of Information -- Controlling Information is Controlling the World -- Social Media in the Middle Ages -- The Return of Collective Creativity -- Organisation and Representation of Information -- Technologies for Organising Information - From Glossa Ordinaria to World Wide Web -- The Big Data Ideology - And its Problems -- Chapter 3-The Public - Deliberation, Visibility and Mutual Surveillance -- The Public Sphere -- Expanding the Concept of the Public Sphere -- The Public in the Internet Society -- The Public as Visibility -- The Internet Omnopticon -- The Public Sphere in the Network Society -- Chapter 4-Community and Beyond - Medieval and Modern -- The Return of Community -- Community and the Internet -- Online Communities - An Overview -- Membership, Obligations and Leaving Community -- The Individual and Community -- Community and Space -- Communities of Trust, Superstition and Confession -- Is Online Community Similar to Early, Physical Communities, Like in the Middle Ages? -- Chapter 5-Instruments of Internet Power -- The Concept of Power -- Structural Power in Medieval and Modern Society -- Digital Pillories -- The Verdict of the Digital Mob -- When Governments Raise Pillories -- Online Witch Hunts -- The Boston Bombing -- Communicating Risk and Fear -- Chapter 6-Structures of Internet Power - Algorithms and Platforms -- The Algorithmic Society -- The Algorithmic Bias.

The Inherent Ideology of Big Data as a Mean of Power and Control -- Reproducing Structural Power: The Quantified Self and the Inherent Discipline and Power -- The Logics of Algorithmic Power -- The End of Agency? -- Chapter 7-Digital Feudalism -- Feudalism -- The Rise and Fall of the Common -- The Internet as a New Common -- The Platform Economy as a New Feudalism -- Control of Networks and Distribution -- Interfaces -- App-ification -- The Control of Content -- From Medieval to Participatory Feudalism -- Chapter 8-Politics and Publics -- Medieval Power and Politics -- The Modern Political Society - Fragmentation and the Struggle for Dominance -- The Nation States and the Decline of Sovereignty in a Networked World -- Corporations and the Conquest of Power -- Civil Society and Democracy Between States and Corporations -- Conclusion: The Return of the Medieval? -- Notes -- References -- Index.

This book sheds light on the world of the Internet and social media and their relationship with surveillance and control, through a historical prism drawn from the Medieval Age.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.